TV Review | Star Wars Rebels (2014)

It is a period of civil war. The Walt Disney Company’s acquisition of Lucasfilm was met with bewilderment and scepticism by many seditious Star Wars fans, who, despite the conglomerate’s deft handling of similar properties, struggled to envisage the franchise in the hands of a multimedia empire famed for its child-orientated “animated classics” and sing-along show tunes. Disney’s immediate abandonment of the groundbreaking Star Wars: The Clone Wars series did little to appease such worries; indeed, it wasn’t until JJ Abrams rocked the world with his electrifying teaser trailer for next year’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Wars Rebels went live on Disney XD that some sense of consensus was restored to fandom, but the conflict is still far from being over.

I watched the first episode of Rebels somewhat cynically, still seething from having had to import the half-finished final “season” of The Clone Wars on Blu-ray into England, and even more furious that I’ll never get to see the series’ planned Sons of Dathomir and Dark Disciple quadrilogies. I was also annoyed at Disney’s kiddified commercial release of “Spark of Rebellion”, the series’ de facto pilot, which was released on DVD but not, á la Mickey Mouse Clubhouse et al, on Blu-ray. 1080p digital copies were available from iTunes and other digital retailers, in fairness, but in the UK iTunes Store the episode was overpriced at £4.99 and devoid of bonus material, while the £2.99 DVD features all four of the series’ online prequels together with a five-minute look ahead at the first season proper.

But even in standard-definition, the show’s Ralph McQuarrie-inspired visuals are instantly staggering, particularly when complemented by Clone Wars composer Kevin Kiner’s take on classic – no, legendary – Star Wars themes and melodies. It’s astonishing what a difference using those original refrains makes to the series; how it instantly cements it as being Star Wars – proper, ’70s-style Star Wars – almost subliminally. Admittedly something is lost in the move away from the movie-like title sequences and fortune cookie-styled truisms, but this is more than made up for by the instant glut of star destroyers and TIE fighters that we see keeping the denizens of the outer rim down at heel.

I also welcome Rebels’ 16:9 presentation, which fills up every visible pixel on my television screen. Whilst there is certainly something to be said for The Clone Wars’ cinematic 2.35:1 aspect ratio (which I believe was often cropped to 16:9 for broadcast), on Blu-ray only around 816 of its 1080 lines contain the picture, which means that when it is being watched on zoom, as is my preference given the 16:9 shape of my telly, what I’m watching isn’t much sharper than 720p.

As to the subject matter, Rebels’ setup is much more traditional than those who followed The Clone Wars might have expected. Rather than pepper stories from an entire war haphazardly over a hundred plus episodes (and one theatrically-released movie), this series starts at the beginning and moves forward from there, allowing us to watch the characters’ relationships develop as they share more and more adventures together. This was inevitably designed to better suit the young Disney XD demographic, but will be appealing to most adult viewers too as it allows the series to tell what is essentially one large arc rather than dozens of two to four-episode ones. A number of recurring characters have already been established and long-running plots appear to be building. 

I also really like the way that the series has been rooted in the outer rim so far – unlike in the Star Wars trilogy, we don’t get a mind-blowing, expansive view of the galaxy and the rebellion against the Empire. Instead, we see only through the eyes of a small group of insurgents in a relatively small area of space. As such we encounter the same Imperial senators and ministers, the same Imperial agents, even the same underworld scoundrels week after week, allowing the writers and voice artists to enlarge and embellish them. I hope though that the plan is to slowly open up the galaxy as the series progresses and the rebellion gathers steam. Already we’ve seen glimpses of Darth Vader (who I’d have held back for later, personally – a bit like a video game boss at the end of a level season); the droids; Bail Organa; and Obi-Wan Kenobi, with Yoda slated to appear in the first episode of 2015 and Lando Calrissian probably not long afterward. Additionally, we have new characters whose roles are destined to be significant: Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Brent Spiner has been set up as the voice of the rebellion, while Jason Isaacs’ Inquisitor is the week-to-week face of the evil Empire, double-bladed spin-a-roonie lightsaber and all.

The good guys are not entirely as I would have imagined – they are not members of the Rebel Alliance (which hasn’t been formally founded as yet, just fifteen years post-Revenge of the Sith), but are in fact a motley crew of waifs and strays loosely captained by Kanan Jarrus (Freddie Prinze, Junior), a Jedi Knight who escaped the Sith’s purges and now survives largely by robbing the Empire for profit. Their ship, the Ghost, is owned by the Twi’lek Hera Syndulla, whom we haven’t seen a great deal of in the eight episodes that I’ve seen to date, and is policed by Steve Blum’s Zeb Orellios – a hulking Lasat who looks like Chewbacca might have done were different stylistic choices made back in the day. Zeb is, for me, the standout character thus far – tough and bitterly funny on the outside, but even in just a handful of episodes we’ve started to scratch beneath his weathered veneer. Tiya Sircar completes the existing crew as Sabine Wren – the Mandalorian equivalent of Doctor Who’s Ace - an explosives artist in the truest sense of the phrase that I look forward to learning more about.

The story of Rebels begins when the crew of the Ghost become entangled with Ezra Bridger (Taylor Gray), a Force-sensitive orphan born on the day that the Galactic Empire was founded and who’s Lothal’s answer to the Artful Dodger. Reluctantly taken under Kanan’s wing, Ezra hopes to learn the ways of the Jedi, and in so doing strike back against the Empire that robbed him of his parents and subjugated his homeworld. Most of the episodes to date have focused on the budding relationship between master and apprentice, neither of which is ideally suited to their roles. Kanan is admittedly a poor teacher – as he confesses in one brilliant pre-title sequence, he doesn’t understand much of Yoda’s wisdom, “There is no try…” in particular – and Ezra is an even worse student. Vulnerable to fear and hate, he’s already had his first taste of the dark side, and given Vader’s comment in the original Star Wars movie, “There’ll be no-one to stop us this time!”, I can’t help but wonder what rueful fate awaits this rogue Force-wielder at the end of the series.

Eight episodes into Rebels, I’m far more hooked on it than I was on The Clone Wars at the same point, and The Clone Wars had the advantage of being able to use well-established principal characters and explore slightly more adult themes. So, as with The Force Awakens trailer, Disney has my vote of confidence – on screen, anyway. Off screen, I’ve little to no faith in Disney’s handling of the series’ home media releases. Thanks to James Earl Jones’ cameo in the so-called special edition of “Spark of Rebellion” that aired on ABC, since purchasing the DVD I’ve upgraded to the HD iTunes version, which now includes the Darth Vader / Inquisitor additional scene (the download was updated just after the ABC broadcast – delete and re-download the episode if you haven’t done so already), and shelled out £19.99 for a series pass worrying entitled Vol. 1 rather than Season 1. If I don’t get all sixteen episodes of the surprisingly short first season for that (which means that it would have been cheaper to buy the seven Vol. 1 episodes individually at £2.49 a pop), then I’ll be joining the ranks of the rebellion against Disney, never mind the Empire. 

Star Wars Rebels is available to download in 1080p from iTunes. Two series passes are currently available: Spark of Rebellion (which in the UK includes just the 44-minute “Spark of Rebellion” episode for £4.99) and Vol. 1 (which includes the first seven episodes of Season 1 so far. It is not yet clear whether the season’s remaining nine episodes will be included, but I am banking on this being the case given the pass’s £19.99 price tag).